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Researchers have discovered of a new genus of filovirus carried by fruit bats in China. The genome of the so-called Menglà virus shares sequences with other filoviruses, including Ebola and Marburg, and all three use the same receptor on host cells to gain entry for infection, the scientists reported in Nature Microbiology on Monday (January 7).
So far, there is no indication that Menglà has infected humans. “What it means for human health? I don’t think anybody knows,” Jeremy Farrar, head of the Wellcome Trust, tells STAT. “Somebody’s just got to screen some populations around where it was found, human populations, to see how many people have got antibodies to it and how common human infection is.”
The research group previously collected three undescribed filoviruses from bats, and Menglà, found in Yunnan Province, is the first of them to get a detailed work up. Genomic sequencing ...
